Chicken Meat - Prices Continue to Soar Despite Sufficient Stock

The prices of basic commodities, particularly chicken meat, in a number of traditional markets in Solo, Pontianak, Medan and Jakarta are too high. Ironically, prices have been increasing despite sufficient supply.

This issue was admitted by Trade Minister Thomas Lembong. The government has admitted that the efforts to anticipate the price hike ahead of Idul Fitri has not been good enough. Procedures to prevent such an occurrence that had been planned late last year has not functioned accordingly. As a result, the costs of a number of food commodities has risen.

Lembong regretted the fact that what was hoped did not materialize as evident by the current situation. Since the President's instruction last year, there should have been concrete measures taken.

"I must admit, the [preventative procedures] implemented have not been optimal," Lembong said on Wednesday (8/6/2016), after attending an internal meeting at the State Palace, Jakarta, with President Joko Widodo.

According to Lembong, the main obstacle in anticipating the price hike was inter-institutional coordination. Ministries and government agencies should have obeyed the President's instruction immediately after being decided in various meetings led by the President.

Yesterday, at approximately 10:00 p.m., the President held an internal meeting, not publicized on the official schedule, with a number of state officials. Those in attendance included Vice President Jusuf Kalla, Coordinating Economics Minister Darmin Nasution, Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro, State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno, Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman and Trade Minister Thomas Lembong.

Looking for solutions

In the meeting, Lembong said the government discussed short-term, medium-term and long-term solutions to anticipate food price fluctuations. Regarding the rise in beef prices, for example, the government has allowed state-owned enterprises, city-owned enterprises and private companies to import the commodity from abroad.

In the internal meeting, President Joko Widodo told his officials to not be reactive when there are fluctuations in food prices. The problem, he said, must be addressed far in advance.

Still high

In Jakarta, even though the city administration has held market operations at a number of traditional markets, the prices of chicken meat remains high. Last week, its price stood at Rp 35,000 (US$2.64) to Rp 36,000 per kilogram.

In Palmerah, Wahrun (40), a vegetable seller on Wednesday sold chicken meat for Rp 35,000 to Rp 40,000 per kg. He sells up to 10 chickens a day. He only takes a profit of Rp 1,000 to Rp 2,000 profit per kg from the normal market price.

"The price from the boss has already increased, up to Rp 32,000 to Rp 33,000 per kg," he said.

Lila (46), a Palmerah resident said the price of chicken meat, which used to be Rp 37,000 per kg had now reached Rp 40,000 per kg.

Meanwhile, the price of chicken meat in chicken slaughterhouses have also risen in the last week to Rp 32,000 per kg. Before the fasting month of Ramadhan, the price of broilers wereRp 27,000 to Rp 30,000 per kg.

Warjo (38), an employee at a chicken slaughterhouse in Palmerah, said that every day he slaughtered around 1,000 chickens to be sold at the Palmerah Market, Kebayoran Lama Market, as well as other markets. He gets his chicken from farms in Sukabumi, Bogor and Tangerang.

Stock surplus

In West Kalimantan, the price of chicken meat in a number of markets in Pontianak has crept up from Rp 25,000 to Rp 30,000 per kg. This is despite data from the West Kalimantan Animal Health and Husbandry Agency indicating no scarcity of chicken meat. Stocks have been declared a surplus to the demand throughout Ramadhan and Idul Fitri

The total stock of chicken meat in West Kalimantan has reached 12.73 million chickens, while the demand for Ramadhan up to Idul Fitri is only 7.75 million, which means there is a surplus of 4.98 million chickens.

Nur Halimah, a chicken seller at Pasar Kemuning, Pontianak, also spoke of the situation. She said the price of chicken meat had increased in the last two weeks. She had raised her selling price because the buying price at agents had also gone up from Rp 21,000 to Rp 25,000 per kg.

Another seller, Ramli (45), said he had upped his selling price because he predicted that consumers' demand would increase during Ramadhan. "There has not been any problems with supply so far. Per day, there is a supply of around 50 kg. I cannot say how much the highest selling price will be in Idul Fitri," he said.

A similar case is happening in Surakarta, Central Java. The prices of a number of basic commodities in Surakarta, such as chicken meat, have remained expensive. From observation of Pasar Tanggul and Pasar Gede, two markets in Surakarta, the price of broilers are as high as Rp 30,000 per kg.

One chicken meat sellers at Pasar Tanggul, Harni, said the price of chicken meat started to rise in the third week of May, up from Rp 26,000 per kg and had not come down since. The price of chicken meat currently stood at Rp 30,000 per kg.

"Usually, the price of chicken meat goes up leading up to the fasting month, but in the middle of the fasting month it usually comes back down," she said.

Source: Kompas, Thursday, June 9, 2016